Photojournalism and Documentary Photography University of the Arts London (UAL)

Overview

Course overview

The MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at University of the Arts London (UAL) is a vibrant Masters course with an international reputation, which brings together research and practice for photojournalists and documentary photographers who want to take their practice to the next level.

Photojournalists have explored and recorded the human experience since the inception of the medium, recording significant moments in history, documenting unfolding news and creating enduring images that can change people’s understanding of the world.The documentary approach is a slower, more reflective form of practice, which adds deep research to synthesise the complex global conditions you wish to address.

Whether you want to situate your work in a newspaper, art gallery, book or a public space, MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography offers you the opportunity to develop your existing skills and expand your creative practice in order to do so.

With an emphasis on contemporary political and social issues, the course will engage you with the ethics of photographic practice as well as the aesthetics.

The course aims to equip students with a thorough grounding in the discipline, through lectures, seminars, workshops, and crits. 

In the first term, you will follow a rigorous programme of photographic assignments, leading to initiating and developing your own projects and areas of special interest as the course progresses. 

All this takes place within the framework of the history and development of the medium, together with critical, ethical and theoretical contexts. You will be writing as well as photographing for every submission, and learning how to speak about your work in a professional context.

During the second term, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with external organisations, working to real-time briefs, which will help you understand different contexts and potential uses for your work. 

Previous collaborative partners include human rights NGO Reprieve, environment litigators Plan B, and LCC’s innovative platform the Refugee Journalism Project.

At the same time, you will be encouraged to find creative freedom by exploring and rethinking your practice, perhaps by experimenting with photographic processes to expand your vision. Your practice will become more research-focused.

Before your major project, you will benefit from hostile environments training, as well as an introduction to multimedia and bookmaking practices. We will help you shape a specific critical and theoretical context for your project, to help you think, write and speak with confidence and clarity about your work. 

In the final term, you will be editing your major project and working towards the Postgraduate Shows, regularly attended by leading industry practitioners. Your final portfolios will be reviewed by renowned experts in the field of documentary photography: picture editors, curators, photographers and critics.